My copy came in the mail!

[Gandalf Parker]

Well so far he seems to be playing solo games.

And if he ever wants to continue down that line I can gladly provide giant maps (1500 provinces) with independents which are far more than just speed bumps.

Gandalf Parker

[Tifone]

I really am just a sp player for now ^^ and I've just tried Caelum 2 or 3 times for now, so my experience is limited and I found your strategy challenging.

Anyway I'll soon enter the MP, I just need some more practice

Oh btw I mostly use random large maps with all the nations (except when I just want to give a try to some recruitable or short term strategy of course), which usually take me months to finish (with my old pc sometimes a turn processing may take up to 5 minutes sometimes!! )

[SlipperyJim]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

And if he ever wants to continue down that line I can gladly provide giant maps (1500 provinces) with independents which are far more than just speed bumps.

See, that's the best thing about Dominions 3. If you ever manage to get bored with all of the built-in content, there are always user-created maps & mods to try.

(Pssst ... Gandalf ... Do you make any small maps? I don't have the patience for 1500+ provinces.)

Not to mention the (free!) patches that keep adding new Dev-created content! Dominions 3 is the gift that keeps on giving.

[Gandalf Parker]

I keep meaning to update the "Daily Map Generations" from Dom2 with Dom3 versions and sizes. But every time I start to play with it, I end up PLAYING with it! $#!^ )@#^ game!

You can check out some of the efforts here...
http://www.dom3minions.com/downloads.htm

By the way, for solo play I find that turning the mountains up to 50% scattered all over the map gives you many strategic chokepoints. If you add it to your icon for starting Dom3 you can even set it as the default for the random maps that the game generates for you. As you will see I also like to set water smaller than default, and change the color of plains to something abit greener but thats just me.

Gandalf Parker

[JimMorrison]

Wait, how do you change the color? O.o

I got one that was all snow/tundra looking, but mostly all of my random maps look like desert or savanna, it's very bleak.

I am pretty sure that my Random Map Creator doesn't say anything about color. >.>

[Gandalf Parker]

Its in the command-line switches. You can add it to the Dom3 icon to change the defaults. There are many cool switches.
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/CommandLine.txt

My dom3 shortcut includes
--mapgcol 50 100 50 250
which is Map Ground Color red-green-blue-transparency. Thats a mostly green (but not TOO green) and only alittle bit transparent which allows the background woodgran image to add some texture when you are in the game. The number ranges are 0-255 in each one.

I also like to make the borders semitransparent green lines, and the sea borders semitransparent blue lines. like this...
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMap...test900_11.jpg
see? lots of choke points to strategically hold.

[JimMorrison]

Well holy mackerel, that's neat! Your example map is far more visually appealing than most of the ones that I get..... I do find it confusing that I occasionally get snowy looking worlds, or maps with other color schemes on occasion. Does that overlay onto each map, regardless of the base color that you specify? Seems like it could be interesting. Also, tweaking the farm/swamp/forest %s could yield some intriguing maps I'd bet. Thanks!

[Gandalf Parker]

No if you set the colors then they seem to be set all the time. When I get bored Ive got a program that randomizes all of the color settings. That can be fun to play in a jungle, or a lava world, or another planet.

There is also Harbringers mapgen which is kinda kewl because it creates wrappable maps (they wrap and connect top to bottom and side to side) like this..
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMaps/Cor/Cor_000.jpg
That means no "back wall" to be safe against.

Gandalf Parker

[JimMorrison]

Wrap-around maps are definitely interesting. Lately I've played most of my SP stuff on Pasha's Alexander, since I can keep a spacing and pacing similar to most of the MP games that I join.

I just really like playing with the MapGen sometimes, especially when just typing in the forums or whatnot..... always hoping for that magical gem of a map that I really like.

[Gandalf Parker]

Thats why I run generator scripts on my server. It gives me a batch of maps each day that I can look thru to find the gems. Im going to pick one and do things like selected names so that all the provinces are named unique and fitting to their geography. Then I will make it available as a "base map" and with many MANY variable .map files to play on it.

Here are some that I like.
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMap...rs/Keepers.htm
Click on one to see the larger version.